Undergarment



Oct. 8, 1946.V

L. G. ARPIN Erm.

UNDERGARMENT Filed March 19, l1945 IN VEN TORS AT ORNEY Patented Oct. 8,1 946 Leonard G. Arpin and Helen G. Arpin, MontclairN. J.

Application March 19, 1945, Serial No. 583,632

This invention'relate's to undergarments of the type commonly known asshorts One of the objects of this invention is to provide an unusualdegree of comfort in .the wearing of these garments, this advantagebeing obtainable in hot as Well as'vcold environments.

Another object of this invention isto combine the above mentionedfeature with extreme simplicity of construction and conservation ofmaterial.

Another object of this invention is to provide a simple means ofautomatically converting the area of fabric at the crotch, from a seriesof bunched and uncomfortable folds to a Well formed front crotch portionpossessing an unusual degree of comfort and conformity to the anatomicalrequirements of the wearer.

Other objects of this invention rwill become apparent from .thefollowing description it being understood that the above generalstatements of the objects of .this invention are intended to describeand not to limit it in any manner.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure l is a plan View of a strip of cloth material before being foldedand connected to form the nished garment.

Figure 2 is a front elevational view of .the nished garment.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the garment as worn.

T he strip of cloth material I is folded and sewn at its ends to producethe usual hems II and I2. A fly I3 is provided, although it may beomitted if desired. Elastic tapes I4 and I5 are sewn to one end of theIcloth strip and, when.,

sewn to the other end, form the waist engaging portion of the. garmentas illustrated in Figure 2.

The important feature of this invention is the provision and dispositionof pleated tucks or shirring I6 formed at the side edges of the garmentas seen in Figure 1,

Referring to Figure 2, the folded strip is seen to provide a back memberB and a front member F. The series of pleated tucks are locatedsubstantially on the lower half of the front member but preferably,although not necessarily, do not extend to the bottom edge 4of saidfront member F.

Whereas the strip of fabric I!) is initially a planar member withstraight edges, .the provision of the pleated tucksY causes the treatedside edges to .curve inwardly, reducing the width of the garment at thatarea. However, since .the material between the pleated side edgesremains unpleated,

so that the side edges are shortened in relation to the length of thecentral portion of said area,

3 Claims. (ci. 2-224l this area is necessarily ormedwith a fullnesswhich provides the advantages hereinafter set forth.

The area defined by the pleated side edges will be referred to herein asthe crotch portion, its shape being arranged to :conform to theanatomicalA requirements of a male wearer although a `female may use thegarment as well.

The simpleprovision of the pleated side edges results in many unexpectedadvantages. For eX- ample, this treatment of the side edges causes themto curve inwardly thereby conforming to the curvature of the torsoadjacent to the top inner edge of the thigh. Tins curvature is desirable only until the eXtreme bottom of the crotch is reached whereuponthe pleating ceases and the garment is permitted to fan out as itapproaches the posterior of the wearer.

In addition, the unpleated area between the Side edges achieves afullness at the `crotch portion which is contributed to by two effects.First, since the area is unple-ated between the shortened side edges,the excess of material contributes to this fullness. This may be calleda longitudinal contribution since the material comes from the greaterlength of the unpleated in relation to the pleated areas. Second, theinward curvature of the side edges contribute thereto in what may becalled a lateral manner. Finally, the combinationof these contributionsproduce a result of forming an excellent pouch of concave-convex crosssection as illustrated in Figure 3. The curved side edges areautomatically drawn up in luse so that the genitals are shielded fromthe thighs of the wearer and thus from the perspiration annoyancescaused by disregard of this requirement. It has been found that thepleated side edges tend to assume this position without manifesting -atendency to bunch between the genitals and the thighs. This tendency ofthe side edges to draw up into a comfortable position is attributable tothe reduced width and form tting nature of .the crotch portionautomatically achieved by the pleating operation.

The conformity of the garment to the fundamental requirements of sucharticles is achieved with a minimum of labor as well as material and theeffectiveness of the garment While avoiding excessive material makes ithighly desirable in tropical or similar climates.

While it is obvious that the dimensions of the garment may vary somewhataccording to the size of the wearer, we have found that a width ofmaterial about 11 inches and a folded length of about 15 inches(referring to the garment as shown in Figure 2), provides a garmentuseable over a wide range of conventional wearing sizes.

We have shown a, preferred embodiment of our invention, but it isobvious that numerous changes and omissions may be made withoutdeparting from its spirit.

What is claimed is:

1. An undergarment comprising a unitary strip of fabric folded uponitself to form front and back members, the ends of said folded stripbeing interconnected to form waist engaging means, and a crotch portionformed on said front member, said crotch portion being defined by anarea of said front member having pleated side edges whereby said pleatedside edges are vcurved inwardly in relation to the unpleated side edgesof said front member so as to conform to the bottom torso curvature of awearer, said pleated side edges forming said crotch portion of lesswidth and greater fullness than the remainder of the undergarment.

2. An undergarment comprising a strip of material folded upon itself toform front and back members, elastic strips interconnecting said membersto form a waist engaging portion, a crotch portion integral with saidfront member, said crotch portion being defined by an area of said frontmember having pleated tucks formed on the side edges .thereof to shortenthe normal length of the material at said side edges and to cause saidside edges to yCurve inwardly in relation to the unpleated edges of saidfront member reducing the width of said front member at said area andcausing Ithe central portion oi said area to assume a fullness relativeto said pleated side edges, said inward curvature causing said crotchportion to conform to the bottom torso curvature of a wearer.

3. An undergarment comprising a strip of material folded upon itself toform front and back members, elastic strips interconnecting the ends ofsaid members to form a waist engaging portion, a crotch portion integralwith said front member, said crotch portion being dened by an area ofsaid front member having pleated .tucks formed on the side edges thereofto shorten the normal length of the material at Said side edges and tocause said side edges to curve inwardly from their normal positionreducing the Width of said front member at said area, said area beinglocated substantially on the lower half of said front member withoutreaching the bottom edge thereof, the said pleated side edges of saidarea causing the central portion of said area to assume a fullnessrelative to said pleated side edges, the inward curvature of said sideedges causing said crotch portion to conform to the bottom torsocurvature of a wearer.

LEONARD G. ARPIN. HELEN G. ARPIN.

